Day 11 to 16 San Francisco

This past few days has been great. The hotel (Hotel Whitcolm) we booked was a lot swankier than we had expected, which is nice except for that never ending feeling that you don't belong. San Francisco doesn't seem to be a family vacation spot at all, if fact I feel like these past few days we saw very few children maybe that has something to do with the rainbow flags everywhere ????? (I thought I booked the hotel far enough away from the gay sector but apparently not!) well regardless the only way to know where we were was the flags and the well dressed men. Did I mention that San Francisco is the homeless capital of the world???? well it is, they are everywhere and in various states of poverty and in every neighborhood. I found San Francisco to be pretty and nice and dirty and scary at the same time. Even in the tourist areas. We spent our first day shopping at the Westfield Center which was a very upscale mall, it was pretty but the most remarkable thing was the food court. No McDonald's here the choices were awesome from fresh Thai & Japanese to organic Salads and Bison Burgers. On top of the selection all cutlery & dishes were real nothing disposable, it was great. I had Thai and it was amazing.

The second day we headed out to Napa Valley and it was disappointing to say the least mainly because we were early for the main tourist stuff and secondly we couldn't go on any tours with the kids. Nice drive though

We spent the next 2 days on the Wharf. First we went to Pier 39 (which is shops & restaurants) we saw the sea lions and had a great time.

Greg happened to stumble upon Mr. Darth Vader himself David Prowse he had him sign his shirt with Vader on it that he happened to wear it was pretty cool. The next day we went to the Ferry Farmers market. You can see how the California way of eating is so amazing. The produce was beautiful, mostly organic and quiet affordable. I picked up some organic strawberries, olilberries (blackberry/Marion berry) some artisan cheeses with crusty bread and add to that some peaches for Connor and a few apples and you have a beautiful cheese plate. It was so Delicious with the Napa wine............ Lets just say I wish I had a market like that nearby, it really puts even the St.Jacobs Market (which is great) to shame. I don't think I will ever look at a Farmers Market the same again. It was a fabulous day.

After that we went to Fisherman's Wharf it was nice and a lot warmer that the other day. Did I mention that it is freezing in San Francisco???? that is right their summer temperatures hover in around 15 degrees and with a cool ocean breeze it gets really cold.

All in all San Francisco was a nice visit, much cooler than I expected and a little dirtier but it was still an enjoyable visit.